Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has denied the inclusion of constituency projects in its 2019 budget.
The denial was contained in a statement issued by the Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye.
Nwonye, however, said investigation by the ministry revealed that unknown to it, Zonal Intervention Projects allocated to Members of the National Assembly (NASS) as Constituency Projects to the tune of N2.9 billion was earmarked by the National Assembly for execution by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (ICPR), an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Recall that the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, was reported to have frown at the inclusion of the sum of N2.9 billion in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been drawn to media reports credited to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) stating that the sum of N2.9 billion has been earmarked for Zonal Intervention / Constituency Projects in the Ministry’s 2019 Budget.
“The ministry wishes to inform the public that no such amount was earmarked in the Ministry’s 2019 budget. However, an investigation conducted as a consequence of the media report revealed that unknown to the Ministry, Zonal Intervention Projects allocated to members of the National Assembly (NASS) as Constituency Projects to the tune of N2.9 billion was earmarked by NASS for execution by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (ICPR), which happens to be an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It is important to note that this amount is not reflected in the 2019 Appropriation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and never came to the attention of the Ministry,” Nwonye said.